Revolution Burning Questions: Family Matters, but It Isn't Everything

Revolutionis always about the bond between family, but for once we got a look at the troubled relationships outside the Matheson clan. So who has bad blood between them? Find out this and six other burning questions from "Ties That Bind." [Spoilers ahead]

1. "We're in trouble" When Miles Matheson (Billy Burke) is afraid, you know things are about to go from bad to worse. That's why it comes as no surprise Miles' ominous warning was immediately followed by the discovery the militia was holding Nora's (Daniella Alonso) sister Mia hostage. The price for her release? The pendant and Miles. Fortunately for Miles, Nora isn't exactly interested in a trade (but she is interested in some serious explosives!)

2. California, here we come Never did I think I'd live to see the day a trip to California would be punishment! After Jason (JD Pardo) tries to learn Strausser's (David Meunier) whereabouts, Bass (David Lyons) offers Neville (Giancarlo Esposito) a tough proposition: Jason either goes the 3,000 miles to California (where the Hollywood A-listers have been replaced by murderous "heathens") or he faces execution for treason. Ouch! Not a hard decision if you ask me.

3. Daddy's home Fifteen years after the blackout, explosives enthusiast Nora gets hit with a bomb even she didn't see coming: according to Mia, her dad's alive! But instead of following Mia back to Texas for a joyful family reunion, Nora decides to stick it out with the gang. That is, until Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) gives a heartfelt speech about what she'd do for one more day with her dad.

Little does Charlie know, but she's got her own presumed-dead parent waiting for her, too! It might not be her dad, but I doubt Charlie will be disappointed when she sees Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) again. (And as a rule of thumb from here on out, whenever they say someone's mom or dad is dead, I'm not gonna believe it until I see the corpse.)

4. The rose that grew from concrete Episode 8 was our first real look at Julia Neville (Kim Raver) and from what I can tell, the bitch is bad! With a father like Neville and a mother like Julia, it's amazing Jason even knows what the words "empathy" and "honor" are. Neither Julia nor her husband hesitate before selling out one of their peers to ensure Jason stays right where he is.

5. Speaking of heartless... Just as Nora and Mia are starting to get comfortable with each other again, Strausser pops up to mess everything up. But his appearance isn't a simple coincidence. Mia was in cahoots with the militia all along! In exchange for her and Nora's safety, Mia delivers the pendant and the Matheson squad to Strausser on a silver platter.

Adding to the heartbreak, it turns out the whole backstory about finding their dad alive was nothing more than part of the plan to sell out Miles. Yet for some reason, Mia seemed genuinely shocked when Nora ran back to try and save her friends and get away from Mia's total bull. Blood might be blood, but after you try and murder your siblings' friends and lie about whether or not your dad's alive, I don't think family ties matter all that much anymore.

6. General Neville? It looks like Julia might just be the most ambitious of the bunch. After questioning Monroe's mental state and ability to lead, Julia begins projecting her own dreams of glory onto her husband (who seemed perfectly content as a major until his wife started getting too big for her britches).

7. Where the frak are Randall and Grace? It took me a moment after seeing Randall's teched-out evil lair before I realized this isn't Battlestar Galactica— this is Revolution! So where are they and how did he get all those high-tech gadgets? Not to mention, the mysterious mission Randall plans on sending Grace on! This is one of my favorite story lines of the season, yet eight episodes in and we still barely know anything about Grace and her predicament. Hopefully, we'll get a few more answers before it's lights out for Revolution in two weeks (at least until March, but I can't wait that long!)